The Osceola times., 1887-03-26
MEMS NERVOUSNESS.
Nervous Prostration an AGlictIon Whit.
Hsunts Men Equally with Women.

The physiologies tell us that neryops.
ness is the peculiar attribute to women
May not this be because ii is unu,uallr
men who write the physiologies, so ths,
woman might perhaps say. like tha
lions in Ksop's fable, that if the otbe,
party had been the painters the cass
would be different? Itwould be worth
while to consult the wife of the musical
enthusiast. for instance. who has car,
ried his art to such a point thati,
causes him and everybody else mora
pain than pleasure, the man who mus,
have every door in the house deadened
every carpet doubled; every visito,
seen by some one else before admit.
tance, and the children banished to
regions inaccessible and inaudibls
Paganini, the greatest of violinists. il
reported 10 have found existence an
absolute burden because il held 50
many intolerable sounds; and manva
woman has found her husband, even
where unprofessional, claiming the
privilege of Paganini's sensitiveness
without his genius. Again, consider
the extremely nervous condition ex.
hibited by some perfectly healthy men
when called upon to appear before the
public TO make few remarks or
even introduce a speaker.
The terrors Of nervous prostration-
that calamity which seems a new foe,
but is really only new name for an
old one-haunt men almost equally
with women. If men hold out longer
against its approaches, which is doubt.
full, they succumb almost more hope.
lessly. and need longer for a cure
know young men of fine physique who,
| having for u year or two undertaken
to combine too many different ankle
| ties-for instance, bread-carning oc.
cupation and the study of profession
have taken to their bed in utter help
| lessness and frequent tears, and re.
mained there for years. "More pangs
and fears than wars or women have"
were their penalty for an over-taxation
| Of the nervous system. The fact that,
as the life insurance companies tell us,
women on the whole outlive men,
seems to indicate that their nerves, il
more sensitive than those Of men, are
more elastic. and offer a better re ist-
ance to the wear and tear of events; for
we must remember that it is not the
great things of life which prove ex-
hausting, but the small ones, because
these call out less in the way Of re-
sources to meet them, just as people
take cold more readily after warm
bath than after a cold one, for want Of
reaction.
There exists in every household a
short and easy method of testing the
comparative nervousness of the sexes.
Take the very sweetest and most do
nestle of men, the most home-loving
and cquable, and see If be can have
patience with the children, day in and
day out. as can a wife much less gifted
bv nature with these fine qualities. The
children may be the sweetest ever
born. and yet each will be pretty sure
to pass through stages in its develop
mcnt when its cross-questionings its
needless resistings its cronic deafnesses,
its endless WHAT" and ''Why?" and
"Whom did. you say?' will furnish
grounds for practice for saintship. Not
that all mothers are equal to this task
far from il; but when it comes TO
nerves, the average mother takes all
this trial and pressure in a way that
puts the average father 10 shame.
knew shrcwd woman who, whenever
her husband had given her II lecture on
nervousness, used to contrive to have
him dress one or two of the childrea
for school on winters morning,
after breakfast slightly be-
lated. The good man would
fall meekly into the trap, not clearly
remembering the vastncSs of the la
bor-the adjustings and the tyings and
the buttonings; the leggings and the
overdrawers and the arctic shoes; the
jacket, scarf, coat, gloves, mittens
wristers; the hat or cap or hood, to be
pulled and pushed and tied in proper
position; the complete way in which all
these things, besides being put on,
have to be mutually made fast by
strings and buttons and safety-pins. so
that the child thus dressed is II model
of compressed packing, and could, like
well-packcd barrel of china, be sent
around the world without injury.
Calm must be the spirit, high the pur-
pose, of the father who reaches the end
Of this complex task without word Of
impotence, while the wife whom he
calls nervous has long since taken of
his hand the other child assigned TO
him, and has long since with dcft
hands dressed her. and given one
patient, final, all compromising
twitch, and the whole thing is done.
If you doubt whether men are, on the
whole, and in their own way. as nery.
Gus rs women, test them with getting
the children ready for school, and re-
member that their mother does il twice
a day at least, every day of her life
T. W. Hggiasoa, in Hdrper's Ba:ar.
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